Toasted Sandwich Makers

I plan on picking one up as a gift for the lady friend tonight (in love? Say it with a kitchen appliance!), I know zip about toasted sandwich machines, so does anyone own one or can anyone recommend one?

Also - it is possible to make sweet as well as savoury snacks using one?

You've got to butter both sides of the bread otherwise they'll stick to the toaster and leak through the bread. You name it, you can make it. It takes a little trial and error before you start to get the gist of how much is too much filling. It can get a bit messy if you go overboard.

I recomment you use it on a bit of newspaper until you get it right.

Or just buy DB's Fine Art of Toasted Sarnies available from all good bookshops.

rhythm wrote:
You have a choice between sandwich toastie maker (single function, sweet and savoury possible) or THIS, which is the BEST THING EVER in the kitchen/sandwich genre. You can leave the top off a sandwich and just melt the cheese, you can create "tortilla hotplate towers", you can just toast the outside of a sarnie, you can do paninis.

It's a fecking kitchen marvel and seriously easy to clean too (no ridges and VERY non-stick)

Amazing.

But I need one tonight (last minute birthday pressie). Do they sell them in retail outlets?

rhythm wrote:
You have a choice between sandwich toastie maker (single function, sweet and savoury possible) or THIS, which is the BEST THING EVER in the kitchen/sandwich genre. You can leave the top off a sandwich and just melt the cheese, you can create "tortilla hotplate towers", you can just toast the outside of a sarnie, you can do paninis.

It's a fecking kitchen marvel and seriously easy to clean too (no ridges and VERY non-stick)

Agreed, I so wanted one of those but Mrs Peej insists on digging out burnt bits of cheese flavoured shrapnel from our crappy old Breville instead!

rhythm wrote:
You have a choice between sandwich toastie maker (single function, sweet and savoury possible) or THIS, which is the BEST THING EVER in the kitchen/sandwich genre. You can leave the top off a sandwich and just melt the cheese, you can create "tortilla hotplate towers", you can just toast the outside of a sarnie, you can do paninis.

It's a fecking kitchen marvel and seriously easy to clean too (no ridges and VERY non-stick)

Couldn't agree more. My mum bought everyone one for Xmas (apart from me as I don't eat bread). It is amazing. Can do anything. And as Rythm says is great for easy cleaning. You can even do toast in it. Buy it .... NOW.

rhythm wrote:
You have a choice between sandwich toastie maker (single function, sweet and savoury possible) or THIS, which is the BEST THING EVER in the kitchen/sandwich genre. You can leave the top off a sandwich and just melt the cheese, you can create "tortilla hotplate towers", you can just toast the outside of a sarnie, you can do paninis.

It's a fecking kitchen marvel and seriously easy to clean too (no ridges and VERY non-stick)

It's great if you actually want to make 'toasted sandwiches', but I suspect the title was a Spaced reference and what is actually in mind is a proper breville. That thing, although great for that authentic cafe experience, doesn't do the authentic student-on-a-budget sealed edges thing, does it?

Those Breville sandwich presses are the shizzle of sizzle... the greatest thing about them is that my gluttony is no longer restrained by the (Admittedly generous) volume restrictions of the old-fashioned toastie machines.
Got something thatís been in the fridge for a week? No problem fire it between bread cook buggery out of it voila toasted takeaway treats mmmmmmmm. Donít let common sense define what can go in your toasted sandwiches any more.
Buy it.

rhythm wrote:
Mike - what did you end up choosing and did it go down well?

I got a Breville easy clean one. I like the look of the one you linked to, but from what I read I wouldn't be able to make "messy" sandwiches with it. This easy clean allows you to insert a filling and seals all the edges - cool.

I picked it up from Comet in the end, for £21. They still tried to flog me a warrenty for £13 though, useless fochers.

I haven't handed it over yet - I'll be doing that when I get home. I must remember to wrap up a Mars Bar and a banana though!

Dunno about which one to get, Mike, but I do advise against storing it in your airing cupboard without cleaning away all the grease first. I did that once. Went back a few weeks later, it looked like the nest in Alien. I managed to retrieve the sandwich maker at the core, then thought it would be a good idea to get rid of the bits of fungus that couldn't be removed by hand, by switching it on and burning it off.